What the #!%*? Why Ontario teachers have commenced rotating walkouts

Why Ontario teachers have commenced rotating walkouts

In this occasional feature, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today, Megan O’Toole explains the labour strife gripping Ontario schools, as elementary teachers commenced rotating walkouts this week and high-school teachers began withdrawing from extracurriculars en masse.

Q: Who has walked off the job?

A: Ontario’s elementary school teachers have launched a campaign of rotating walkouts, beginning Monday in the Avon Maitland and Ontario North East school boards, and continuing in various locales throughout the week. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has promised to provide 72 hours’ notice prior to any walkout, giving parents a few days to make alternate arrangements. As of Tuesday, schedules were set as far ahead as Friday, with York Region teachers scheduled to walk off the job Thursday. “We must take a stand, no matter how difficult or inconvenient that may be,” said Nadia Ciacci, who represents York Region’s occasional teachers.

Our teachers will begin their workday 15 minutes before classes begin, and leave immediately after their final class as required in the Education Act

Q: What are high-school teachers doing?

A: The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) has been engaged in job action since last month, with teachers ceasing to do certain tasks, from participating in professional development to completing ministry reports. The situation escalated this week, as the OSSTF began a withdrawal by all members from voluntary and extracurricular activities. “Our teachers will begin their workday 15 minutes before classes begin, and leave immediately after their final class as required in the Education Act,” federation president Ken Coran said, adding he hopes students and parents “recognize that this fight is not with them, but with the Ontario Liberal government.” Upset by the loss of extracurriculars, some high-school students staged protests this week to coincide with the change.

A: At the heart of the dispute is Bill 115, a piece of provincial legislation that allows Education Minister Laurel Broten to impose collective agreements if contract negotiations fail at the local level. ETFO president Sam Hammond says the legislation — which also stipulates terms for a two-year wage freeze — removes teachers’ fundamental rights and threatens democracy in a broader sense. “The education sector’s response to Bill 115 is not about a wage freeze or pause in salaries,” Mr. Hammond said. “This strike action is about the government’s unprecedented interference in the right to collectively bargain, a legal right provided for all people under Ontario law.”

Q: Can the province step in?

A: The Education Ministry will allow the one-day walkouts to continue, but the necessary legal documents to end an extended strike are “drafted and ready” should the action persist, Ms. Broten said. After Dec. 31, the province can impose contracts if agreements are not in place — a move that would end any job action. In a statement issued this week, Premier Dalton McGuinty lamented the one-day walkouts, calling them an unwelcome disruption to nearly a decade of labour peace. “Our government is disappointed that some teachers’ unions have chosen to put students in the middle of our disagreement over pay,” Mr. McGuinty said, noting the rotating walkouts, “while inconvenient,” do not warrant immediate government intervention. “I hope teachers will do as they’ve committed to do, which is to take no more than one day away from school.”

Q: What does this mean for Toronto students?

A: The Toronto District School Board is in a legal strike position — meaning negotiations stalled even after the two sides brought in a conciliator — but it remained unclear Tuesday when teachers may go out. A spokeswoman for ETFO could not confirm how the federation was determining the order of the rotating walkouts, noting only that parents would receive three days’ notice. “We are going to inform parents as soon as possible… when it comes it any strike actions,” TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird said, adding notice of the walkout would be issued via the board website, social media or letters home.